Credits Suisse Group (CS) allegedly helped sell billions of dollars of securities that ultimately played a role in toppling Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo, according to the Wall Street Journal.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Credits Suisse Group (CS) allegedly helped sell billions of dollars of securities that ultimately played a role in toppling Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Swiss bank was responsible for putting together securities that were issued by offshore investment vehicles and then sold to retail customers of the bank, the Journal said.

It is unclear what, if any, direct role Credit Suisse had in selling the securities to bank customers, the Journal added.

Now those investment products are at the center of an unfolding scandal. Banco Espirito Santo was bailed out and broken up this month. Other parts of the Espirito Santo group have filed for bankruptcy amid alleged fraud and accounting problems, according to the Journal.

Shares of Credit Suisseare slightly lower in pre-market trade.

TheStreet Ratings team rates CREDIT SUISSE GROUP as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate CREDIT SUISSE GROUP (CS) a SELL. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Capital Markets industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 171.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $1,111.63 million to -$792.42 million.

Current return on equity is lower than its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of weakness within the company. Compared to other companies in the Capital Markets industry and the overall market, CREDIT SUISSE GROUP's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.

The share price of CREDIT SUISSE GROUP has not done very well: it is down 10.23% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. The fact that the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings is not reason enough to justify a buy rating at this time.

CS, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 2.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 3.1%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.

CREDIT SUISSE GROUP has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, CREDIT SUISSE GROUP increased its bottom line by earning $1.29 versus $0.89 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.61 versus $1.29).